Posted by Marc Martin on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Marc-s-Century-21-Convention-Report-Part-1-Ed-Gabrielle-Drake-tp1489984.html

Hi All,

Well, as you might have heard/guessed, I've been to the Century 21 convention!

If you want the "short version" of my con report, I can sum it up as
"absolutely wonderful".

If you want a longer version, well let's start out with what many of you
will consider the most important part -- Ed Bishop and Gabrielle Drake.

Although there were many guest cancellations, Ed Bishop and Gabrielle Drake
did indeed make it to the convention. Even though I'd never met either of
them before, Ed was the same charming man which I've seen on previous
convention audio tapes, video interviews, etc. Gabrielle Drake was also
absolutely lovely to everyone, and many of us were amazed at how great she
looks! In person she looked fantastic... recent interview videos & photos
don't do her justice.

I first saw both Ed and Gabrielle in -- of all places -- the hotel
cafeteria, where they were catching up with each other during lunch hour
Saturday, as they hadn't talked in 30 years! This was actually quite
amusing, because I had just met Lorraine (from the list) and her husband
the night before, and when Ed walked into the cafeteria, he sat down at
Lorraine's table! The amusing part was that Lorraine was absolutely
speechless, and refused to leave the table when it was time to have our
SHADO@egroups meeting!

After coming back down from our SHADO@egroups meeting, I saw that Gabrielle
was also now sitting at Lorraine's table, as were UFO directors Ken Turner
and Alan Perry! I was informed that Ed Bishop "wanted to meet Marc
Martin", so I briefly interrupted his conversation with Gabrielle to
introduce myself, and he said he really wanted to chat with me later, and
continued catching up with Gabrielle. Although I didn't spend much time in
the cafeteria while Ed & Gabrielle were there, in retrospect I think that
Lorraine might have had the right idea! :-)

Shortly afterwards, there was a "guest panel" (interview) with Ed and
Gabrielle. I audiotaped it & took photos, and some other folks videotaped
it, so hopefully we'll get a transcript up on the web, maybe even with a
Quicktime movie or some sound clips...

Following this was supposed to be a showing of IDENTIFIED, with Ed,
Gabrielle, and Peter Gordeno providing commentary while it was
showing. Unfortunately, things were running behind schedule and Gabrielle
had to leave at a certain time, so this was rescheduled for Sunday
afternoon (after I needed to leave for my business meeting), and with only
Ed and Peter providing commentary. :-(

So instead of this, the regularly scheduled autograph session was held,
featuring Ed & Gabrielle plus the other guests which were there. The line
went around the room, down the stairs, and who knows where it ended! I
decided that instead of standing in line and miss out what was going on
with the guests, I stayed by the autograph table and took pictures while
chatting with other fans. Again, in retrospect, I think I should have
stood in line and got the autographs, because as it turns out I never did
speak with Gabrielle... :-( (of course, this is where Simon Wickes will
tell me "I told you so!")

Gabrielle left the convention at the end of the autograph session.

That evening I had dinner with Lorraine & her husband at a nearby
restaurant, and when I came back into the hotel bar, Paolo Malaguti said
"Marc! Ed Bishop is looking for you!". A few steps later and Simon said
the same thing. I started looking around and found him and his girlfriend
Jane in the hotel lobby, where again Ed expressed a desire to chat but
again didn't have time at that moment...

Later that evening, I finally got to chat with Ed (after Simon finally took
the matter into his own hands!) at the bar during the costume dance. Ed
thanked me for all the work I had done on my UFO website, and even noted
that he's used my "Cast Information" page to remember details of films he'd
been in! I got my picture taken with Ed (after he lit up a cigar), so
hopefully Simon will develop & upload these into the SHADO eGroups file area.

Sunday morning, I only had a few hours at the convention before I had to
leave to catch a plane, and after attending a guest panel with Alan Perry
and Ken Turner it was time for me to go. Fortunately, I ran into Ed and
Jane in the hotel lobby, so I got a chance to give them a proper goodbye.

I assume that Ed did the IDENTIFIED commentary that afternoon with Peter,
but I'll have to wait to hear that from someone who witnessed it!

Well, that's the end of my convention report part 1! Part 2 will be "The
Fans".

(Amelia, feel free to forward this to Helen, as I don't have her e-mail
address with me)

--
Marc Martin, [hidden email]